Payback
by quilledfeather
Summary: SPOILERS FOR MOST RECENT EPISODES. Nightwing decides that enough is enough. Blue Beetle has become a danger to the League and to the world. The only way to stop him is to take him out.


**Hey y'all:  
So this is my first story for Young Justice though I have been a fan and reader of it since the beginning of the show. There are some definite spoilers from the last few episodes in this story, so read with caution. I wanted to write story where Nightwing uses the information he gathered from the last episode and confront Blue, while at the same time halting his work for the Reach. I think it turned out pretty good (shrug). But please enjoy this thought I've had on my mind for the past couple of days. This will probably just be a one-shot.**

**So, have fun, enjoy the story, and please review if you feel like it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Young Justice, DC does.**

JUNE 6, 22:30 MDT

Jaime gently shut the front door behind him. His mother had gone to bed just a little over a half and hour ago. She would not be pleased if she caught him sneaking out for a walk. But the night was perfect and he needed to think. The heat from the day had finally cooled off a little and the night was balmy and warm. Jaime took off down the street, taking deep breaths of the night air. Now that he had control of the scarab, his life felt so much easier. No more chances of turning into a bad guy, no fear of becoming something he hated. And he owed it all to the Reach. The Reach were the good guys and once the Justice League realized that, everything would be so much better for everyone. That's why he was helping them. If the Team saw that he was on their side, they would realize how good the Reach was and join him. Helping the Reach kidnap the team had been easy and it made sense. They too would see the light and they would all work together for the better of the world. Because that's what heroes did and at this moment, Jaime was Earth's number one hero.

_Plink._

Jaime's head quickly turned in the direction of the noise. Using the scarab, he scanned the area for any threats. Nothing was detected. Shrugging, he continued with his walk.

_Rustle._

Once again, he turned towards the noise. It had come from the other side of the street this time. Suspicious, Jaime began to walk faster. Probably just a street gang. Although he was able to protect himself, he didn't really want to reveal the suit to a bunch of punks who wanted to mug him.

_Crack._

"_Okay, no more funny business. These muchachos are going to regret ever sneaking up on me."_ Jaime commanded the armor to suit up and felt the metal move rapidly over his skin. He brought his plasma cannon up and pointed it in the direction of the final noise, a dark alleyway to his right. His scanners still were not picking up any life or danger. Which didn't make sense. A gang of teens should have registered right away. Jaime furrowed his brow in confusion. What was going on?

His answer came with a well-placed exploding batarang to his back. The force threw him into the alleyway, where he landed hard on his stomach.

"Nightwing, what the hell are you doing _esé_?" Jaime shouted.

"I'm making good on my promise to make sure that whoever kidnapped the team would pay for what they did." Nightwing's cold voice echoed off the walls, making it hard to know where the source was coming from.

"What are you talking about? I had nothing to do with that!" Jaime stood up and tried to locate where his leader was hiding. Nightwing couldn't find out that he was working with the Reach; he wasn't prepared for that truth yet.

Nightwing chuckled darkly.

"Don't try to lie to me Blue, I found evidence of your attack on the team all over Warworld. It would be best for you if you just told me where they are."

Jaime froze. _He knew?_ Anger and frustration bubbled up inside of him. The Reach had trusted him to keep this all a secret! He had let them down! The only way to fix this problem was to take out Nightwing and hide his tracks even better this time. His face twisted into a sick smile. It would be fun to kill someone as prominent as Nightwing.

"You're way too clever for your own good 'Wing. Why don't you come down here and finish what you came here for. Oh and by the way, if you were trying to sneak up on me before I could suit up, you failed."

Another laugh echoed around the alley.

"Oh Jaime, don't be ridiculous. I wanted you to be trapped in this alley. Do you really think that a master of stealth like myself would make all that noise?"

Jaime frowned. He hadn't thought of that. And he was now trapped in the alley. No, no he could get out of this. Nightwing had nothing special about him and Jaime had an impenetrable armor. No worries.

There! Nightwing had made his first mistake by allowing his shadow to flash on the wall. Using the scarab to triangulate 'Wing's position, he blasted his cannon at the top of the building.

Except, nothing was there. No body falling from the rooftop to signify a hit. No groans of pain. Where had he disappeared to? Jaime got his answer when an eskrima stick smacked him over the head. Nightwing did a front flip over him and used the sticks to electrocute Jaime. Although his suit protected him from most of the pain, Jaime would be hard pressed to say that it didn't hurt a little. Nightwing disappeared once more. Jaime felt disorientated from the shock but still sent another blast in the direction Nightwing had went. Debris rained down from the sky.

"Nice try _esé_, but you're going to need a lot more fire power to take me down."

Nightwing answered was several more exploding batarangs, plus some smoke bombs for good measure. Jaime tried to block most with his shield. And now he felt a little ticked off. Nightwing had to know that he couldn't do any real damage while he was suited up. 'Wing was just playing with him. He had to know this wouldn't end well.

Jaime was therefore surprised when Nightwing dropped in front of him and started to fight him hand to hand. Nightwing moved too fast for him to transform the suit into blades. Jaime tried to block himself as much as possible. Against a martial art specialist such as Nightwing, this was practically out of the question. 'Wing seemed to be everywhere as once. An uppercut to the face, a roundhouse kick to his stomach, back flipping out of the way before Jaime could retaliate and then dashing back in to kick out his knees. Jaime landed hard on his back and groaned slightly. Suddenly, he felt himself being shifted to lying on his stomach. Nightwing had flipped him over and cuffed him. Before Jaime could even think to struggle, he felt the most peculiar and painful sensation at the back of his neck. He cried out and tried to move away from the pain. But Nightwing had a knee placed forcefully into his back and he could barely move. Nightwing continued to use his blade to expose Jaime's neck. When there was finally enough space, he withdrew the knife and took a syringe from his belt. Said syringe found it's way to Jaime's neck, where the cloudy substance was forced into Jaime's skin.

Jaime felt himself relaxing against his will as the drug took hold. His suit retracted into himself without any orders on his part. His head felt like lead and he could barely concentrate.

"What did you do to me?" Jaime gasped. His tongue felt heavy and thick. It was difficult to form words. Nightwing stood up and forced Jaime to lean against the wall.

"Which part? Do you mean how did I get through your armor or how did I make it so you can't control the scarab anymore?" Nightwing actually smiled, but it was not a kind one. It didn't seem to fit with his face. It was too cruel.

"To answer the first question, I used one of your staples. I sharpened it to a blade. The only thing that can break through your armor is your armor, so I found some to make a weapon with.

"Secondly, did you know that we discovered several things about your scarab during the time when we were trying to get it off? For instance, the scarab is attached to your cerebral cortex. That part of your brain controls your emotions, thought, and consciousness through neurotransmitters. The serum I gave you is a sedative hypnotic called barbiturate. It suppresses those neurotransmitters and therefore makes it impossible for you to control your armor. If you hadn't had Green Beetle turn off the scarab's control, it might have been able to fight me back, but you did. So you have no back up to when you lose control over those transmitters."

Jaime felt extremely groggy. The events of the past weeks were slowly coming back to him. Ever since Green Beetle had made his scarab go on mode, it was like he had been living in a happy fog but now looking back, none of it felt real or right. The serum, while making him feel drowsy, also helped to clear some of the previous fog. Jaime had never felt such shame or horror to realize that he had attacked his friends and that he almost killed Red Volcano and others during his rampage at STAR Labs. He was supposed to be a hero. But he betrayed everyone when he was looking for a solution to his scarab problem. He should have never trusted Green Beetle! He had been seduced so easily and he was such a fool!

Nightwing could see that the drug was breaking through the mind games Green Beetle had placed in Jaime. He crouched in front of him to look into his eyes.

"We never could use this drug because it is addictive and would make you too tired to actually fight anyone, but it does stop the scarab. So I'm guessing it's also stopping whatever telepathic control Green Beetle had over you," Nightwing said softly. Jaime was trying to focus in on Nightwing's face.

"Jaime, I need to continue to give you this drug so you won't go to the Reach and so Green Beetle can't take over again. Do you understand?"

Jaime nodded his head slowly. He understood completely. He didn't want to go against his friends again. Nightwing reached down to help him stand so he could take to him to one of the Justice League facilities. Jaime tried to weakly raise his hands to stop him.

"Nightwing, wait, just wait a moment." Nightwing paused and looked down. Jaime took a deep breath before he looked steadily into Nightwing's masked eyes.

"I know where they are. I know where they're keeping the team."

**Did you like it? If so please review or favorite. It will make me happy :)**


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